From My Reflection of You
by Junryou
Summary: He’s been searching for her for over 200 years. He doesn’t remember her face, nor does he remember her name. He doesn’t even know whether she’s alive, or dead. But he continues to walk this cursed path just for her. AU
1. the soul reader

Summary: He's been searching for her for over 200 years. He doesn't remember her face, nor does he remember her name. He doesn't even know whether she's alive, or dead. But he continues to walk this cursed path just for her. AU

Disclaimer: I do not own Card Captor Sakura

* * *

**From My Reflection of You**

**Chapter 1. **the soul reader

"_I vaguely remember… that I should not have reached out towards her. I could not…"_

_

* * *

_

The sun had set earlier than usual today. And air was oddly more humid than usual, and getting more so by the minute. It was getting hard to breath, but then again, he always felt like that despite how the weather was. His breathing slowed down as he watched one by one the windows in front of him come to life. He sat on a branch of the large oak tree that was just beside the large mansion's concrete fence. Swinging his feet, he swiftly jumped down noiselessly, and landed in a crouch.

"I'll be right back." His quiet whisper was picked up by the wind and flew towards the man that he had been sitting beside since this morning. His glasses gleamed under the light of the flickering candles, and he smiled eerily.

"Of course."

He ran with ease, his long, powerful legs carrying him further among the field of flowers that danced along with the wind in his presence. He brought his hand up and adjusted the mask that covered his lower face. Leaning on the wall, he carefully looked around the corner, and seeing no one, he made his way towards the wooden door. It opened easily and silently, yielding to him completely, and shut behind him with a _click_. The corridor was dark, and only dimly lit by candles that sporadically hung from the ceiling. But this was perfect for him.

He quickly walked down the corridor with great stealth, and made a turn to his right at an intersection and continued his way. He had long since memorized the blueprint of this house so he travelled the halls like he had been living there for ages. His eyes darkened as he stopped in front of a pair of wooden doors. He went in without a moment's hesitation. It was just his luck that today the family that lived here were going out to attend a banquet so there were a few number of people around, save for maybe just where they kept all their valuables. But apparently that wasn't what he was going for. On this high level and, supposedly, dangerous job, his client had ordered him to locate a book and take it back with him. Although he wasn't complaining, for an easy job, he was getting well paid after all.

The library was large, and even had another level that was connected by a swirling staircase. According to his client, the book would be on the second level. He made his way up. He could've taken his time with the books, since no one was going to be going to the library in the middle of the night to clean, or read, but he's been watching staking out at the house since this morning and he didn't want to stay here any longer. He skimmed the shelves of the second floor, a bit happy that it wasn't as large as the first. The dark didn't bother him at first, but when his eyes began to ache, he sighed and reached into his pockets to bring out a small black tube. Pushing the light at the back, it emitted an eerie yellow glow. Scowling, he almost felt like slamming it into the books but restrained himself. Eriol must have changed the settings on his night light so that it wouldn't shine a beam of light, but glow instead. The glow didn't help much, but at least it lit up the room inconspicuously.

He finally found the book after looking through shelves, and shelves of books, and idly wondered at the back of his mind how this book was so valuable to his client, when here in this shelf, it was just an ordinary book. He let the yellow glow glide over the cover, and the book's title glinted back at him. It was a light silver metallic colour that gleamed under the light, and its curvy elegant font read '_The Soul Reader_'. Other than that, the cover was plain with only black as its background. He tucked the small book in his front pocket and turned around to leave when he smelt a whiff of strawberries and vanilla. It was odd that this old dusty library smelt so fresh and nice. Why didn't he smell this on his way in? Why hadn't he noticed?

He made his way towards the railing that looked down onto the first floor but didn't see anything after he put away the small tube to hide himself. The bookshelves at the bottom were arranged in a complicated pattern that almost resembled a maze, and he probably would have gotten lost if the bookshelves to his right didn't create a straight line to the second floor.

And then a shadow fell down from ceiling, swinging off the pole from his left that pointed out from the railing that was holding out some kind of flag, and when the shadow's body moved up, right in front of him, snatched the book away from his front pocket easily and with another swing, fell down to the shelves below. Although he, or she, fell down on the shelves a bit too loudly, more like crashing, and teetered to the side and fell again, this time off the shelf and onto the ground. Books fell onto the ground as the shadow attempted to stop falling by grabbing the shelves but instead, books fell on top of the body when it landed.

Syaoran wasted no time going after the culprit that stole his book. He jumped off the second level, landing much more quietly, and right next to the pile of unmoving books. He took a step towards the pile, eyeing the unmoving hand that was lying on top of a book. The rest of the body was hidden under the books. The hand twitched. He tensed. The shadow burst up, and sat up straight breathing heavily, not seeming to notice him yet. The shadow's short hair was in a complete mess from the fall, and Syaoran noticed that there was nothing to covering his, or her, face. The heavy breathing stopped. Dark green eyes slid to his. It was a female.

They both froze, staring each other in complete silence, well aware that the slightest move would initiate the other to attack. He didn't understand but goose bumps began forming on the back of his neck, and he started sweating. And then she smiled, with just the slightest tilt of her lips.

"Checkmate." Her lilting, smooth voice wrapped itself around him almost pinning him to the ground. All his instincts told him to stay where he was. But he lunged towards her instead. He wasn't able to catch her, instead, she flipped into the air with her feet kicking several books in his direction, and landed elegantly in front of the pile of books, a big contrast to what happened moments ago. He dodged the books easily enough and chased after her as she turned a corner and disappeared. He turned the corner, listening to the sound of her footsteps.

All of his senses were going haywire. He couldn't concentrate clearly, and all his instincts were telling him to stop chasing her. He didn't understand. There was no reason why he wouldn't chase after she pulled that stunt. Even his heart was beating at a rapid rate, pounding so loudly and hard in his chest that he felt a slight ache. He shook his head. His mind was beginning to grow foggy.

She disappeared behind another corner. He followed her. Turning the corner sharply, he couldn't see her anymore so he continued on cautiously. And then the sound of her footsteps also disappeared. Pulling his eyebrows together, he turned another corner to where he last heard her footsteps. She stood there, her back to him and standing in front of a book shelf silently. It was somewhat surprising the way she stood so still, because it wasn't a dead end. She could've quickly made a turned to her right to escape, but she continued to stand there. This was his perfect chance to strike and get the book back, but his feet stopped moving, pausing just three feet away from her. She noticed his presence from the way her shoulders tensed when he approached, although she didn't move.

She turned around and faced him; the small book was open in her hand. Syaoran narrowed his eyes at her.

"If you give me the book, I'll let you go." He took a small step towards her and held his hand out. She looked at him blankly. She closed the book with a loud snap and tucked it into her bag without averting her eyes away from him. Then she smiled at him the same way as before, as if she had already claimed victory when it hadn't ended yet, with slightest tilt of her lips.

"Who said anything about that?" She tilted her head to the side, her hair falling over gently and gazed at him almost innocently. "Do you know the contents of the book?"

Thrown off balance by the random question, his hand dropped back to his side as he perused her. Her hair was in a bob cut with so many layers that locks of her hair stuck out at random directions, and her bangs went across her forehead, slightly parted to the left. Her eyebrows were perfectly arched which went well with her sharp eyes. She was at least a head shorter than him, and she wore a cloak as she eyed him back. The other corner of her lips tilted upwards.

"Studying?" She asked in a breathy whisper. "I asked if you know what this book is about." Her voice came out harshly and cold, oddly out of place with the way she had crashed into the book shelf earlier. He didn't know whether he should reply to her or not. And then he surprised himself when he opened his mouth.

"No. Give me the book."

She looked at him in an uncanny manner. "No."

The space behind him exploded. He turned around. Bookshelves were toppled over and the flames licked at the hardwood floor. Books were strewn across the floor in a careless manner as a replacement for gasoline to help the fire burn. Another explosion. And then a shadow ran out from the flames completely unhurt and knocked over more bookshelves as if irritated.

"Thanks, Asa!" The female voice behind him did a complete one hundred and eighty degree turn when her voice turned cheerful and friendly as she called out to the shadow. He slowly turned around, and saw she had turned her head in the direction of the angrily pushed bookshelves but he couldn't see her face clearly when her auburn hair covered the side of her face.

"Just hurry up already!" The brash male voice called out irritably and hurried towards the exit without helping the female that had called out to him. She turned back towards him; the flickering of the fire behind them cast an eerie glow onto her face as she smiled at him. He took a step towards her. She took a step back, hitting the shelf behind her.

"Sakki," she stated. He didn't understand. But his heart was pounding in his chest, wanting to burst open. A trickle of sweat rolled down his cheek and he didn't know if it was from the heat, but he felt nervous. People were screaming in the background, growing louder by the second, but he couldn't hear their exact words. His ears started ringing and he could barely make out her next words. "Why don't you come and find me if you make it out alive?"

His vision began swimming and a blanket of darkness wrapped itself around him.

* * *

She swung her feet back and forth from where she sat at the edge of the cart, happily watching the scene in front of her slowly fade away. The cart rose in the air for a split second when the wheels rolled over a bump in the dirt road, and landed back down, shaking, making her hair bounce up and down. She laughed quietly with an imperceptible tilt of her head, it was infectious and melodic. Her laugh and the scene before her. Wisps of flames brushed against the sky, its fingertips desperately reaching towards the blanket of oblivion only to fade away and being replaced by a transparent cloud that she could barely see in the night sky. The flames cackled, and the sound of the cracking wood echoed through the empty dirt path which only held a dainty cart. The witnesses to this were the moon and stars above that shined and twinkled down at them in vain. It was beautiful, in its own twisted way.

She closed her eyes and breathed in slowly, parting her lips and letting the affable wind caress her face. And then she sighed, turning her head and watched as the bulky man lying down next to her sleep peacefully. Her eyes traced the light scar that ran from the corner of his forehead to his cheeks half way, going across his nose, right next to his eye. She brought her legs up from the edge and hugged them to her chest while she stared at him. It was getting cold tonight despite the earlier humidity. Asa suddenly snored loudly making her laugh again, except this time shorter. She fell back, lying next to him with her hands folded on her stomach.

She silently recalled the earlier events that had happened. For the past week, her little agency that consisted of just four people had been running low on money since finding missing children and lost items had never been that easy, so she had to resort to their last type of job, which was high class and dangerous, but strangely easier to complete compared to finding lost items. These clients were always wealthy, and being the poor people that they were, one job from them would usually last them an entire month before they began scraping at the edges with the small odd jobs that they were able to find. And to think that they were supposed to be a detective agency. They were quite the failure. So being cold and hungry, Asa decided to take matters into his own hands and went in search for a wealthy client in those obscure places like he does every other time. Their client was a small, old man that spoke to them very politely, which was very odd since this little man had just been doing a deal in the black market moments before Asa found him. His request was simple. To steal a book titled '_The Soul Reader_' and burn the library down, which indirectly stated to burn the house down, but they just did what they were told. Sometimes they had to do dirty jobs like this in order to survive. Although some didn't care either way, she didn't find it really appealing. Finding missing children were so much better, because they were usually so happy to see you. Usually.

So both Asa and she snuck into the house in search of the book. While he prepared to burn the place down and she went looking for the book, the most surprising thing was that another person had appeared moments later and was also looking for the book. She could tell that he was well built despite his lanky form as he ascended the stairs and skimmed the contents on the shelves as she hid inconspicuously on top of a shelf which she couldn't understand how she had gotten up there so quietly. And when he _finally _noticed the presence of another being after finding the book, she had, with break neck speed, and feeling slightly suicidal all the same, jumped over him, aiming for that pole that obtrusively hung from the railing. She could've of missed, and died, but luckily managed to hang on, swing herself around to grab that darn book that he had put in his front pocket, and do another swing to land more safely below. She almost did it perfectly but she landed wrong and just had to fall over the shelves, grabbing some books and pulling them down with her in the process. Buried under those books, she could have died, but she just laid there pitifully, imagining him laughing at her, and when she heard him land close to her, she knew that she was in trouble. So when he tried to get closer, she gathered up all her strength and sprang straight up from that pile.

His presence made something inside her twitch, and she had smiled sadistically at him, and for a reason she didn't know, said, 'Checkmate.' The sadistic side of her seemed to be making its grand appearance, but she didn't mind either way, since he had found the book before she had a chance to look much. So when she was running away from him, she had conveniently, and curiously, skimmed the contents of the book. But it was odd. What was in the book, that is. Sakki didn't understand, but yet she did understand.

The cart gave a violent lurch this time, flying in the air and jiggling the people in it for more than a split second this time. Asa continued snoring. A female voice began wailing like a banshee.

"I – I'm so sorry!"

Sakki looked up from where she lay, arching her back slightly to get a better view of the female that was near tears. Her dark blonde hair was neatly combed and parted to the side elegantly unlike her own. The female gazed down at her.

"Don't worry about it, Hisoka," she replied gently, smiling brightly. "If Asa didn't wake up, then you don't need to worry at all! Since he'll probably not only demand an apology from you for making him wake up, he'll probably make you do his share of the chores for the rest of the year."

She turned a few shades too pale, and faced the front again. "I'm sorry!"

"Hiso-chan, you don't need to apologize. You didn't upset anyone." A male said softly, his light voice floating through the air.

"Oh…"

"That reminds me, when is our Black Dealer going to come and collect his prize?" Sakki rolled onto her stomach and propped her chin onto both her hands to balance herself. "I'm sure he told us, but I can't seem to remember." She scrunched up her nose in concentration, and her eyes slid over to peer at Sho who was sitting next to Hisoka at the front, hugging her arm tightly. Sho turned around to look at her with his eyebrows drawn together.

"He said he'll be waiting for us at our office."

"Did he?" This time Sakki had her eyes brows drawn together as she tried to recall that little old man telling them that. Then the pieces clicked together, everything falling into place. She scrambled up to sitting beside Hisoka. "He said he'll wait for us to come back at midnight!"

"That's right." Sho replied.

"Hisoka, hurry or he'll chop our heads up!" Sakki whined, pointing directly ahead.

"Shut up, Sakki!" Asa yelled from the back and she cringed in terror.

"No, that wasn't me Asa! Don't kill me!"

* * *

His head ached terribly. It was as if someone was pounding down on his head with a sledge hammer none too gently. It didn't hurt, but it felt like a numb throb from the back of his head.

"_Let us be friends_!"

He opened his eyes. A small girl stared at him, holding out her hand and smiling at him as if he was a precious person that mattered a lot to her. Except that he wasn't. Her face blurred together. He couldn't make out the outline of her face, nor could he make out the colour of her skin under the glaring sun that shined at him making shadows cover her face. All he could see was her smile. He reached out towards her.

And the mirror broke, crashing onto the hard ground. The broken pieces showered all around him, making the most beautiful music he's ever heard; the sound of laughter and the running of water coming together, eluding all of his senses. It was breaking into a million pieces, shattering even more as it hit the ground, but he could still see the image of her etched into that broken mirror that lay at his feet. Even now, she was still smiling at him. In the back of his mind, he vaguely remembered that he wasn't supposed to reach out towards her. He was supposed to do something else, something else so she wouldn't leave so soon.

His headache disappeared and she left his line of vision. He frantically looked around; he didn't want her to disappear. He hadn't been able to see her in such a long time so he wanted to see her smile, even if it was just one second longer.

"_It's time for you to wake up_."

"Wake up, Syaoran, you idiot!"

A light pierced through his eyes mercilessly, and he screwed his eyes even tighter together. His pounding came back worse than before.

"Be quiet, Meiling," he croaked out, his voice hoarse and scratchy.

"And the prince wakes up." He opened his eyes slowly, and saw her wave her hand towards in a way to emphasize her words.

"Eriol-san found you." Another voice spoke up softly from the corner of the room where he couldn't see her, but she appeared in his vision quickly, dropping something in his eye with no warning whatsoever. He closed them in reflex. "You were out cold in the library. It was on fire so he went looking for you. When he brought you back, you were blue and cold to the bone. Syaoran-san, you were poisoned."

He rubbed his eyes furiously and sat up, leaning against the wall. The people in the room stared back at him expectantly and Tomoyo handed him a glass of water. He gratefully accepted it, taking a gulp.

"But the most important questions are who did it and stole the book?" Naoko asked, and glanced at Eriol who seemed to have dropped out and went to sleep in the chair next to her.

"Sakki," he stated simply with a sigh. "That was what she said, and that if I made it out alive, I should go and look for her."

"Well, you can tell she's incredibly confidence just from that sentence alone." Naoko analyzed, tapping her finger against her lips. "Anything else? Did she show any abilities that we should take note of? How did she look like?"

"I don't think you should be over questioning him right now, Naoko." Tomoyo paused, and then glanced at him. "Unless your throbbing headache isn't killing you right now, and you can think clearly?"

She shot him a disapproving look.

"I think I can manage." His amber eyes wandered around nonchalantly, looking every where except at Tomoyo who had her lips pursed sternly at him, but left after gathering her stuff.

"Syaoran?" Naoko called out.

"Oh, right, abilities…" He suddenly recalled the way she crashed into the book shelf and fell down. "She's nothing special from what I saw. She knows the basics of fighting, but she didn't do anything else that caught my eye."

"So this Sakki… who had no special abilities managed to poison you?"

"There was somebody else. She called him Asa."

"Asa?" Naoko's eyes widened, and then she coughed in her hand.

"Naoko?"

"No, I was just thinking of a case five years when a swordsman named Asa raided a whole village by himself, killing everyone, but he died in a fire." She looked towards Meiling who had wandered around the room, until she sat comfortably next to Syaoran on the bed. "So we have two names. Sakki and Asa. I'll see what I can find so we can get the book back. Our client won't be very happy to know that we've lost it to someone else." She got up and left, leaving Eriol sleeping on the chair.

"So Syaoran…"

"What, Meiling?"

"You were beaten by a girl."

"No, I was beaten by a pair of enemies."

"Who were both girls?"

"I'm not sure."

"Then let's assume they were both girls."

"And?"

"You were beaten by two ordinary girls."

"Meiling…"

She laughed merrily and flew out the room in a breeze, leaving him and Eriol in the room.

"I see." Eriol got up from his seat, and stretched, before looking at Syaoran sternly. "I'll ask Naoko to fix you a new training schedule. Whether that other person is a girl or not does not dismiss the fact that Wolf's Society's Leader has been defeated by merely two people and almost killed you."

He sighed irritably. And to think that he just recovered from a near death experience. His headache was just getting worse, and sadly, it was by the people around him.

* * *

"Sakki, you're going to go blind if you keep staring at that pile of papers like that." A voice from the couch reprimanded her, and it was no doubt that Sho had been staring at her the whole time.

For the past hour, or two, maybe even three, she had been staring at her very own copy of '_The Soul Reader_' in the dark room with only a lone candle to light office, but the sun was already beginning to rise, shedding in the first morning rays through the windows behind her. '_The Soul Reader_' was, to say the least, an incredibly interesting book. It was no wonder that that old man wanted it. So she had taken the opportunity to skim through it once again, memorize it and make her own copy after giving the Black Dealer the original one as Hisoka raced back towards their office. For just a single book, the little old man had been incredibly happy, and gave them a large sum of money. She sighed, taking the papers and shoving them in her one of her drawers.

"I know."

The street behind her began bustling quietly as people were beginning to wake up and making their way to work, or already opening their shops up. She leaned back against her chair and rubbed her eyes. Ever since they had arrived here, Asa had made an immediate beeline to his room while Hisoka and Sho had wandered about, waiting for her to finish up the deal. Afterwards, Hisoka also rushed back towards her room with a polite good night, but Sho seemed to have decided to stay here instead of going to sleep to stare at her.

"Shouldn't you be sleeping?" Sakki asked, brushing away a lock of auburn hair and tucking it behind her ear. "You've been like that all night. You might just faint when you try to stand up."

"Of course, but you should be sleeping too." Sho smiled brightly despite the way his eyes were beginning to droop.

"You're going to get sick."

"I'm always sick."

"That's why you need plenty of sleep," she chided gently. He rubbed the back of his head. The rays reached his face and making his face glow unhealthily, emphasizing his all too pale skin, but formed a halo around his maroon hair. "I'll wake you up in a few hours. It's still early."

"Well – " She heard a door burst open, disrupting the tranquil atmosphere between Sakki and Sho. They both looked at the door blankly, it wasn't as if this was an irregular occurrence since Asa always had the habit of slamming doors open to annoy others, or clients that left after an angry debate. But they could both tell that this time it was neither the latter, nor the former. She rubbed her temples in exhaustion and made her way out of the office to the foyer. Sho only sighed, getting comfortable on the couch and closing his eyes, leaving Sakki to deal with what was happening on the other side of the door.

What greeted her on the other side was unexpected, but she should've known that this would happen.

"Coming in without knocking implies little etiquette." She said as she watched the small group of people in front of her. They looked irritated, if not frustrated, and Sakki could easily guess why as a tall male walked forward, his unruly mass of chestnut hair triggering something in her memory.

"We've come to take the book back."

"Take it back? What makes you think you can?" She narrowed her eyes at him for belittling her agency. The she sighed loudly, and yawned at the same time. She was too tired to play games. "Well, you're too late anyways. The book is gone."

"Was stealing the book also a job for you?" This time a female spoke up. She wore round spectacles that almost covered half her face with a bob-cut that almost resembled her own, except it was shorter, with bangs covering her forehead, and much, much neater. Sakki assumed that she was their strategic tactician from her analyzing and information gathering behaviour.

"And how would me telling you change anything?"

"Your response may trigger an immediate change to our current plans; therefore, it is for our best, and your safety, to tell us all everything that you know of relating to '_The Soul Reader_'."

"Oh." She blinked at them, eyeing that blue head that had yet to speak up. "Then I assure you that it is for your own safety to tell your other four eyed friend that searching my office with his mana for that book may also trigger some unwelcome reactions."

"There is no need for you to worry if what you have been telling us is the truth."

"I'm not worried," Sakki yawned again, covering her mouth. "But as I said, it may trigger some unwelcome responses. Some rather violent ones."

"Are you threatening us?" This time the tall male narrowed his eyes at her.

"Well, not _me_ in particular, but – "

"Who the hell is searching my room?!" A loud voice boomed through the small office, and Sakki cringed, watching the mixed reactions of the group of three in front of her. The female looked towards the direction of the voice, the tall male tensed, getting ready to attack, and the four eyed male grimaced as if in pain.

"Too late," Sakki whispered under her breath. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

The four eyed male whispered something towards his little groupie, but Sakki heard him as clear as day. "Someone's pulling on my mana."

"Is that possible? Mana isn't tangible."

"They have, and are coming here right this instant."

On cue, someone, rather angrily, marched into the foyer from the corridor that was connected to all their rooms. Their hair was wild, and messy, no doubt furious from getting an early wake up call.

"The hell!" Hisoka roared as her eyes roamed the three strangers in their office. Sakki really hated it when gentle Hisoka woke up and turned into foul mouthed Hisoka. She shook her head. Blood was sure to shed. She could even hear Sho mutter behind her, 'Oh, its Soka-chan.' She almost felt sorry for that four eyed. Almost. She really did resembled Asa when she was like this. And now that her mind wandered towards Asa, she realized that he was also bound to wake up from all the noise and explode just like Hisoka had.

"You are so going to pay for waking me up," she said malevolently, taking a step towards the four eyed mage. Sakki amusedly noted that it looked like her eyes were bleeding red. She turned around when Sho spoke up, casually ignoring the racket behind her as mana flew back and forth, and chaos ensued her precious office.

"Shouldn't you stop her before Soka-chan destroys the foyer again? Hiso-chan will be so devastated when she wakes up."

"That's true." Sakki sighed, and turned back towards the scene. The female four eyed was watching the fight at the back with her jaw dropping so low that it looked dangerous. Her eyes slid over to the scene of a tall male trying to hold back Hisoka while she cat scratched him all the while battling the Mage with waves of invisible mana that could not be seen by the naked eye. Chairs toppled over, books fell down, and something seemed to be burning. She scrunched up her nose. "Okay, let's be good kids and stop fighting everyone." No one listened to her. "Guess not."

She sighed. A horrible headache was surely coming her way. There had to be another way to stop these people. She shook her head as her fingers twitched. She angled her hands in front of pelvis, palms facing opposite of each other with fingers facing outwards without touching. She swiftly pulled them apart, shaping a semi circle as if she was weaving delicate threads.

"God damn it, stop destroying my office!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, glaring at everyone in her line of vision. Sakki let out a sadistic smile when everybody stopped moving. Hisoka hissed angrily at her. "Well, not that you're all in the palm of my hands, whatever shall I do to you people?"

"Let go!" Hisoka screamed.

"No," she replied tersely, and sticking out her tongue. "Anyways. Let's be good little kids, and stop fighting, okay?" Silence. "Gosh, people never like listening to me do they?"

"Are you…" She turned towards the four eyed who spoke up but trailed off. He looked at her with concentration. "You're a Puppeteer."

"That's right."

"Puppeteer?" The tall guy inquired, looking at his friend for an explanation.

"To put it simply, a Puppeteer is a Mage that can control other people's limbs. It's a complicated process that not many Mages can achieve based on statistics." The female replied for him while Hisoka grumbled at the explanation.

"Anyways!" Why were they talking about her like she wasn't there? She clapped her hands and they all fell to the ground. "I'd say make up, and be friends, but I don't want to. The book isn't here, and if you really want to know what happened then you'll have to buy the information." She resumed business mode when she had taped their mouths shut with her mana and began the one sided negotiations. "Even though Hisoka did start the fight, four eyed Mage and tall guy did participate in it, and so all three of you should take responsibility and pay your worth. The next time you guys decide to visit, please knock politely and wait for someone to open the door for you like the mature adults you are. Don't go searching my office as you please, because, as you can see, the end result is rather humiliating." She paused, and looked at Hisoka who was giving her the glare of doom. "Hisoka, go back to sleep." Hisoka stood up, and quickly walked back towards her room as if she wasn't being controlled. Her moves were swift and natural. "I'll mail you guys the bills, the door is that way." Sakki turned around to go back into the office, releasing her hold on them.

"Wait!"

She paused, and peered back at them.

"We can… we can talk this over calmly." The tall male said grudgingly while getting up.

"There's nothing to talk about. I told you everything already."

"Can't you just tell us what happened to the book?"

"In my world, everything comes with a price, whether it's small or big."

"I think we got off on the wrong foot," he sighed. "Why don't we start over? My name is Li Syaoran, master of Wolf's Society." He held out his hand for a handshake. She didn't say anything as she eyed his hand. "We honestly don't mean any harm. If you're really a detective agency then you're, in a way, similar like us in working for our clients. We can talk… about becoming an ally in the future." She raised her eyebrows at him. "Well, you and the people in your agency seem strong, and I wouldn't want to clash with you in the future. We can help each other out in the future if either of us needs it."

She stared at him a while longer. Emerald eyes blank as she stared into those sincere amber eyes. And then she smiled, with the slightest tilt of her lips and grabbed his hand.

"Kinomoto Sakki, master of Sakki Puppet's Society. And my people _are_ strong." She paused. "If you want, I have a copy of '_The Soul Reader_', you can have it if you want but you'll be paying by the page."

* * *

_The night sky envelopes me towards eternity_

_I look into the water_

_And see your reflection_

_Your ebony hair sways in the gentle breeze_

_With the moon light, ripples flow towards you_

_My fingertips could only brush against the cold water_

_I cannot see your face_

_The memories have faded with time_

_All I remember is your smile_

* * *

**Junryou – **

Okay, so I'm treating this as a pilot chapter of sorts, I guess. Just to see how things go, and if I'll be able to finish it. That's the biggest problem. But if you are willing to read, I promise that I will do my best too!

And if you haven't guessed, Sakki is Sakura. Forgive Sakura for her streak of sadism though, I couldn't help but add that to her characterization for various reasons, but the biggest influence is probably because this story is somewhat of a rip off from one of my original stories that I'm trying to complete, and the main character from that story is really sadistic, except she knows what she's doing. Sakura's sadism is somewhat more uncontrolled. It comes out with no warning. Oh gosh, I've created a dark Sakura, haven't I? But no need to worry, each story is uniquely their own, although set in the same alternative universe. The OCs, Asa, Hisoka and Sho are also from that story, although I changed Sho's original name to fit this story more. Did I mention that it was really hard to decide on a title for this too? I almost even resorted to using the title where Asa, Hisoka and Sho came from. XD

I have to admit, writing this story was hard, although I had a lot of fun, there were just too many decisions to make! Like who would be in Syaoran's group, and whether I should put CCS characters in Sakura's group. But the biggest problem is whether I should go through the majority of the supporting casts' stories since I do have a big number of characters, and if I don't delve into at least some of them, they'll seem so one dimensional, and that would be no good. I also want to make each character have their own quirks so that they'd each be different and lovable. And sorry if Eriol seems so weird right now. I don't how he turned out like that. And Syaoran too.

I hope everything was clear. I proof read it a lot of times, but since I already have the rough outline of Sakura and Syaoran's story already, I might miss some mistakes. FMROY will probably have more action in the future, and that has got to be my weakest point in writing. I'll try my best though, since I like what I have of the story so far. I've written another chapter already, but oddly enough, it isn't the next chapter, but some odd chapter in the far future.


	2. and burn under the sky

**Summary: **He's been searching for her for over 200 years. He doesn't remember her face, nor does he remember her name. He doesn't even know whether she's alive, or dead. But he continues to walk this cursed path just for her. AU

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Card Captor Sakura.

* * *

**From My Reflection of You**

**Chapter 2. **and burn under the sky

"_Just like a puppeteer controlling a puppet… she will see, she will be in control, but never appear…"_

_

* * *

_

"And you formed an alliance with the people who had stolen the book from us. But then told us that they read the book, made a copy, and if we wanted it, we'd have to pay 450 yen per page." Meiling looked at Naoko in front of her and went completely dumbfounded. "And that was a good idea, how?"

"Well, after she realized that we meant no harm, not we that we could harm her though when she showcased her abilities for us, and sincerely wanted to form an alliance for benefits in the near future, she did tell us that she had a copy of the book, although it wasn't the original one." Naoko explained, as she sat down and began taking notes down about Sakki. She was not someone that should be ignored; especially if she didn't have to do anything special in front of Syaoran to get that book from him. And while doing so, she also conveniently began re-assembling a new training schedule for Syaoran. "Even if the copy is not the original, and our client will not be very happy when he discovers this, at least we have secured something rather than nothing. And Sakki-san has also showed us the amount of money that her client had given her for the book. That large sum of money indicates that her client is extraordinarily wealthy, so it would not be a good idea to go up against him, not to mention that she isn't going to give us any information for free."

"Well, isn't she looking down at us condescendingly," Meiling commented while she was sprawled down on the couch comfortably. "I like her already."

"As expected from you, Meiling,"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You hate misogynists, and have always had a superiority complex in terms of a relationship between a female and a male."

"Can't deny that," Meiling snickered.

"So?" Tomoyo asked as she walked into the lounge caring a tray with cups of steaming tea. "Do you think that this alliance will benefit us? We've formed Wolf's Society for seven years already, accumulated a lot of enemies, but we've never formed an alliance." She handed each a cup before she sat next to Meiling who occupied most of the couch.

"I'm not sure myself," Naoko concluded after thinking for a moment. She pursed her lips together and then took a sip of her tea. "But from my point of view, I think it'll greatly benefit us. Their master is a Puppeteer which a great advantage to any job that we take, although asking for her assistance will probably require a sum of money which is why we should choose with care which mission she should help us with. And that Hisoka girl is also incredibly strong in terms of a Mage from what I was able to see. Apparently there are two other members but I have yet to see their abilities though."

Tomoyo nodded while taking a sip of her tea. "What is exactly a Puppeteer?"

Naoko paused, her pen poised in the air before she began writing again. "Puppeteer, to put it simply, is a Mage, but instead of using their mana to call upon the four elementals – which are fire, wind, earth and water, excluding purity and darkness – they use their mana to weave threads, if you want to put it that way. They weave threads of mana to control a person's limb, but the thread cannot be too thin, or else it may break, and it cannot be too large, because then it would not control the limb it is using effectively and will turn into a sloppy mess. It is one of the highest forms of magic, and I think you can see why just from the fact that it would take incredible accuracy to form the perfects threads in just an instance.

"These threads wrap around the limbs of a person, and the Puppeteer will be able to control of their limbs with her mana, making the person completely immobile unless this person has a higher form magic that will be able to counter the Puppeteer's. But even when the Puppeteer is in control, the movements of the puppet may seem to mechanical and nothing like the original movements of the person. From your neck to the tips of your fingers, a Puppeteer will weave threads all around you to make sure that your movements are normal. Or maybe the Puppeteer just wants to kill you off, which would be simple after immobilizing you.

"But there have been rumours where the Puppeteer can completely control you, except for your brain. After all, the brain is the one that controls everything and is mentally part of the person and is impossible to perceive by a second party. Things such are your voice box, and your face expression, a Puppeteer can control them after much practice because they are, after all, just muscles that can be manipulated by mana." Naoko finished her longed explanation with a swirl of her pen in the air, and with a satisfied smile, began writing again.

Meiling and Tomoyo both blinked slowly at the explanation, taking it all in before Tomoyo turned to Meiling. "What do you think about this, Meiling-san?"

"I like their leader, Sakki!"

She smiled. "I wonder what Eriol-san's take on this is."

"He isn't feeling so great," Meiling replied. "But since he is pretty mature about everything, he won't take what Hisoka did to heart."

"It was simply not a fair competition though." Naoko stated, closing her books. "He's been drained since the last job and has yet to recover fully. I'm sure he would have not struggled as much if he had full use of his mana. And I do not think that he is particularly upset"

"That's true." Tomoyo sighed, and glanced at Meiling who grumbled loudly.

"And? What are Syaoran and Sakki talking about now?"

"I don't know. Syaoran told us to head back first after paying for the copy of the book."

* * *

"So what's your purpose for opening up a Society?" Sakki asked. Sakki had her cheek imprinted on her the desk as she lazily doodled on a scrap piece of paper. She was having fun interrogating him and trying to get as much information out of him as she could. After all, he had volunteered to stay behind for something that only god, and maybe himself, would know, so she might as well use him while he was still here. That being said, she was still in the foyer, sitting on one of the lone desks that were just for looks, drawing, and leaving everything for Syaoran to do. Interestingly enough, he had agreed to help her, and she tried to help too, but her head ache just seemed to be getting worse.

"I don't understand." He paused when he was re-organizing the books back onto a shelf and looked at her quizzically.

"Most things are done with a reason, you know," she yawned. "Whether it's opening up a Society for money, or just wanting to mingle with people. A reason lies behind everything even if you aren't conscious of it."

"I'm looking for someone." He went back to putting the books back, glad that he was almost done with cleaning up.

"Oh? What's this person's name?" Her eyes travelled to look at his profile. He seemed to be in deep concentration. "My agency specializes in searching for people. We can help you, but you're paying of course."

He smiled. "Actually, I don't remember her name."

She raised an eyebrow at him. So he was determined enough to open up a Society to look just someone, but he couldn't ever remember her name? That just made his terrain so much wider. "Then how does she look like?"

"I don't remember that either." She shot him a blank look.

"Well, good luck searching for her."

"I thought you were going to help me."

"You haven't paid seventy percent of the fee yet. And besides, searching for her will probably be even harder than searching for a tooth pick in a stack of hay. You don't remember her name, you don't remember how she looks like; I say you should probably give up." Sakki nonchalantly listed his faults on his hopeless search. "Those are usually the most vital information if you want to search for someone."

"I know." He sighed and sat across from her after he dutifully put the books. "They say memories fade with time. I guess that's somewhat the problem for me. But if it's anything that I remember about her, then it's the time when we had to part. I didn't want her to leave, but I couldn't do anything about it."

"Tragic love story?"

"Well, I wouldn't say love, but maybe tragic. I don't think I loved her, but I'm definitely sure she didn't love me."

"How can you be so sure? You weren't her."

He smiled sadly. In a way, it was a pathetic sight for such a man to be looking like that in front of her. The way his bangs covered his eyes, casting shadows on his face as he leaned his head down. His hands were clenched together so tightly that his knuckles were beginning turning white. Sakki could only conclude that this girl is very important to him. But if she was so important, she didn't understand how he could forget such important details of her. Like the sound of her laughter, or maybe the way her eyes would glow every time she saw him. Those were all important memories that should never be forgotten so easily.

"But…" She looked towards him. "If there is anything I remember, it's her smiling face. The way her face would just light up no matter how I simply ignored her. She never did hate me for doing that, but instead, she would come to me almost everyday, always happy just to spend the time together in silence."

"Looks like you didn't know what you had until you lost it."

He laughed bitterly, his eyes darkening. "That's true."

"So? How long have you been searching for miss no name?"

"I've lost count." He looked at her oddly. "Maybe even over two hundred years ago…"

She sighed, ramming the edge of her pencil through the scrap paper and leaving at dent in the old desk. "You must be some old man then. The fact that you don't have a mop of white hair eludes me though." With a bitter sigh, she sat up straight and stretched. "You sure she's worth the search though?"

"She is."

"But you know, isn't that funny." Sakki got up slowly, while her muscles cramped in protest, and made her way to the kitchenette. "I'm searching for someone too. Maybe even over two hundreds years ago too!" She laughed. He couldn't see her expression as he stared at her back. "It's so bothersome. Searching for someone that may no longer exist in this world"

"Who are you searching for?"

"Well, unlike you, I remember who I'm searching for." She turned around with a steaming cup and none to offer him. She leaned against the counter, a wistful smile on her face. "But that's none of your business, of course."

He could only shake her head at her, for the concluding the topic she brought up that way. He had spent the last half hour or so chatting with her about nonsense, and he had been mildly surprised to find out that she was a rather friendly person, although reserved and secretive. She didn't like to talk about herself much, but kept asking him questions. He didn't mind too much though, since she wasn't going over the boundaries of his personal privacy and not digging into his secrets.

"And why are you still here? Shouldn't you run along, and go do some work?" Although she seemed to like teasing people.

"We don't have any requests at the moment."

"And how much people are in your Society?"

"Eight people, including me."

"What are their roles?"

"Naoko, the female you met earlier today is our Strategic Tactician, and the other male, Eriol, is our Mage. Then we have Tomoyo, our Healer, Rika, our Caretaker but she also knows the basics to be a Healer, and Meiling, our swordsman, or swordswoman. I'm sure she'll like you once Naoko tells her what happened here." She raised her eyebrow at him while taking a sip from her cup. "She's a feminist."

"I'm not particularly a strong feminist. Seeing people mistreat women does irritate me, but anyone abusing another is not appealing either."

"Maybe she'll turn you into one."

She laughed an empty laugh. It echoed throughout the room eerily, sending shivers down his spine. Her gleaming emerald eyes did not smile and the way she tilting her head back was unnerving. And then she stopped, locking her eyes with his. A strong wind blew through and open window, ratting the cups that hung off the cupboards, and she looked at him with an expression that he couldn't describe.

"It's hard to influence me." Her voice came out in a whisper, and he almost thought that those words were not meant for him to hear. Her eyes turned empty, and she turned her head to stare out the window. "Searching for someone… it really changes you after a long time. You ask yourself, 'Are they still alive?', 'Is that person worth it?', or even 'Does that person still remember me?' The time it takes; some people don't care. Some people may begin to think that they're wasting their time. But in the end, all you want to see is their smiling face, and say, 'Welcome back.'" She leaned down, and sigh whimsically, her hair covering her face.

"That's why you don't think about it." He said softly, smiling himself, albeit a bit sadly and she turned to regard him. "If it hurts so much, if there's too much pain to bear, you're only hurting yourself. So no matter what, don't think about it, and continue on. Because no matter what happens, no matter what you think, that's what you really want to do. Searching for that precious person."

"Aren't those wise words," she mocked him and smiled lightly. The light in her eyes didn't return, but he knew that it was a sincere smile.

"Of course. This is coming from a person with two hundred years of experience."

"Two hundred years?" A soft voice called out. The office door opened, and a sleeping Sho wondered out, hugging a pillow with one arm and rubbing his eyes with the other. He yawned and glanced at Syaoran. "Oh, you're still here." And then he looked at Sakki.

"Go back to sleep, Sho." Sakki said, and gave him a pointed look.

"If you can survive a night with zero hours of sleep, surely I can survive with forty-five minutes of sleep."

"I'm used to it."

"There's no reason why you could be used to it. You haven't slept a wink in the last fifty-two hours, and even before that, you only slept for two hours. If there's anyone that needs to go to sleep, it should be you, Sakki."

"All right, all right, I'll sleep tonight," Sakki sighed, and watched as Sho made his way towards her and began making coffee. "And why have you been keeping track of how much I sleep?"

"I'm concerned about you, you know. For the past four years we've known each other, I can probably count the nights you do sleep, as opposed to the nights you haven't slept. A record like that is unhealthy." His quiet lecture almost had her smiling as he poured boiling water into four cups of tea.

"Four cups?"

"Yes, Sakki, four cups. Making only yourself a drink while you have a guest implies little etiquette." He beamed at her. She gave him a mild glare. Syaoran almost laughed out loud. "Anyways, Hiso-chan and Asa-kun should be waking up soon."

As if on cue, Hisoka almost fell into the foyer in a flurry while tripping over her feet, all bleary eyed and it looked as if she was near tears.

"I'm so sorry!" She cried out, and crumpled down to the ground, kneeling with her head hung low. "I – I'm very, so very sorry a – about what happened!"

"It's all right, Hisoka," Sho said gently, and held out a cup towards her. "Coffee?"

"B – but…"

"Hisoka, why don't you clean yourself up first, and we can talk about this later?" Sakki cut in smoothly, finishing up her cup as she watched Hisoka's shoulders slump and struggle to stand up. She left the room sadly, dragging her feet across the hardwood floor. When she finally got to the bathroom, Sakki could only shake her head while Sho went to sit down on a couch, dangerously holding all four cups while handing Syaoran one.

"She's…" The low male voice trailed off, and Sakki knew what he wanted to ask.

"Hisoka has Dissociative Identity Disorder. In other words, she has a split personality, or an alter ego if put into simpler terms." Sakki explained, making her way towards the couch where Sho sat, and as expected, he sidled up close to her to cling to her arm. "The Hisoka you just saw is the one we assume to be the original. Quiet, polite, and extremely shy, not to mention always apologizing to every little thing when it isn't even her fault. The Hisoka that attacked you is her alter ego that just loves to swear, short tempered, and attacks people when she's pissed off. Sho here likes to call gentle Hisoka, Hiso-chan, and scary Hisoka, Soka-chan."

He blinked at her. "I see…"

"You get used to it. But Soka-chan here usually only wakes up when Hiso-chan is being bothered anyways. So if you don't want to see a repeat of this morning, I say treat Hiso-chan nicely," she smiled at him sweetly. "Which you would even if she didn't have Soka-chan, right?"

"Of course…"

"Well, now that that's settled…" A knock came from the door. Sakki made no move as she turned her head slightly and looked at the door. She smiled politely, but it didn't reach her eyes as she watched the door open, and in walked a little, old man. He held a cane in one hand, a hat in another with a bulky man following from behind. He only took a few steps in the room when he stopped to turn towards Sakki to stare at her. He didn't move.

"I heard you conveniently made a copy of '_The Soul Reader_'." It wasn't a question; it was a statement that was said to be answered. He smiled a fake smile at her.

Sakki was not deterred, after all, she's seen worse. "That is correct. But if you do see a problem in my actions, you would have specified in your instructions that no one is to look through the book while stealing it and burning down the library." She looked at him calmly as his eyes almost glared at her. "Your limited instructions are what caused the copy to be leaked out, and you can only blame yourself, Black Dealer."

"Little girl, you do not understand what you are doing." He hissed back at her.

"Is that what you think?" He didn't answer her. "I know who you are, I know what you do, and as of right now, I certainly know what you want to do with that book that's inside the pocket of your jacket."

"You!" He narrowed his eyes at her, his eyes almost widening, and rudely pointed his fingers at her. "How do you know where the book is?"

"You say I don't understand what I'm doing, so I'll tell you little man, _you're the one that doesn't understand anything_." Her voice was harsh and cold, her eyes were empty and dead, and she smiled sadistically at him. "And the fire shall burn you."

His eyes widened, almost in fear, and he left without another word with his guard glaring at each one of them warningly, especially as Sakki who smiled back at him. The door slammed shut and then room was left with a tension in the air.

Sho sighed beside her. "Well, I guess that there are times like this when I realize that you're our boss."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sakki laughed merrily this time. It was infectious and melodic, and Syaoran inwardly thought to himself that it was also a clever thing to stay on her good side. He, himself, could probably never pull that off, but in a far off memory, he seemed to remember that he was a rather vicious person himself. That was a long time ago though.

"But you know – " Syaoran cut in, " – although you did deal with him rather well, he'll probably want revenge."

"That's true," Sakki nodded casually, sipping on a cup of warm coffee. "I bet he wants to burn my office down now."

"Should we start packing now then?" Sho asked.

"That wouldn't be such a bad idea. But I don't think Asa would like it very much."

"Probably, but he wouldn't have much to pack anyways. Maybe just some clothes and a bundle of money."

"That's true!" Sakki laughed and watched as Sho finish his cup of and skip to his room.

"Aren't you worried?" Syaoran asked, nonplussed that they were treating such a crisis so casually, and were even planning to pack up.

"There's nothing to worry about. Not to mention if this place really does burn down, it'd be a good opportunity to go our separate ways, which basically means to hide by the way, since we haven't paid the rent in the last… three months?"

"You…"

"I should go tell Hisoka and Asa when he wakes up!" She skipped towards her room happily, leaving Syaoran by himself.

And Syaoran could only shake his head at the sudden change of events.

* * *

She looked at herself in the mirror.

She never did like looking at herself in the mirror, because every time she would take a glimpse at herself, she honestly didn't know the girl that was staring back at her so sadly. That person was a stranger. And then, she would realize that she no longer knew who she is. Who she originally was. Her sole purpose in this life that kept her moving on seemed like it was in vain, and stretched so thin, that everything seemed just about ready to snap. She's been living far too many years than the average person, yet she hasn't been leading a fulfilling life that she could be proud of. Her reflection smiled back at her sadistically. And if she ever did find him in this lifetime, he would be so sad to know that she'd spent the last years only searching for him.

Her eyes traced the contours of her face. Her emerald seemed darker. There must have been one time where they shone with life, but now they were so dark, and soulless. And her skin. Ragged, dry, and too pale, shedding every single day, but nothing changed. And her hair. They had once been so long. So long that she had trouble managing it, but then she no longer cared. She never had time to cut her hair, and it had grown, just continued to grow without a care in the world. So she hated long hair now; the shorter, the better. And her lips. Almost never smiling, and even if they were, it was a disgusting façade that she held up. It was odd; she never did have trouble smiling like that.

Kinomoto Sakura is a liar.

Kinomoto Sakura was weak. A weakling who wore a crumbling mask that she could no longer fix. Her alias Kinomoto Sakki was so much stronger. Maybe she was like Hisoka, and had an alter ego. But Sakura knew better. She should've known better. She cut her hair, she changed her name, and she was even pretending to be someone that didn't exist, only because she knew. She knew that they were still searching for her. But she didn't have the strength to fight back anymore. She was so tired. So tired of running, and running, and still not being able to find her salvation.

But they had said that she was stubborn. And she was. So she was not going to cling onto that darkness that continues to invade her heart. All those horrors and fake smiles were not going to break her any longer because she knew the truth now. And all these years, she had been such a naïve little girl. She'll prove them wrong. She was still the Kinomoto Sakura two hundred years ago, and even Sakki could be proof of it. She was strong. She will be strong.

Because all her precious people were still waiting for her.

"Sakki!"

She dropped the blank piece of paper down the drain and washed it out. She was now Kinomoto Sakki. Kinomoto Sakura, for now, will just have to watch as her life is played out before her eyes. Like a puppeteer controlling its puppet.

She will see, she will control, but she will never appear before the enemy.

* * *

"Ah, I see. I suppose we'll be needing back up now, don't we?"

"Suppose?! We do need back up, idiot! We almost died back there!"

"Really? I think we handled it rather well. We just have a couple of bruises and cuts, nothing my antidotes won't heal." Pause. "Oh, I think they're chasing after us."

"If you don't start running then I'll leave you behind!"

* * *

Tomoyo opened the door in surprise. Syaoran brought back a group of people that looked rather grumpy. Well, maybe just one person, but that one person alone tensed up the atmosphere so much that everyone else had decided to be silent. Except for that brunette who was smiling at her. And then there was a blonde female that looked scared, and a male that tiredly clung to her arm, his eyes drooping. And then there was Syaoran who looked perplexed, as if he himself didn't know why he was with this group of people who were carrying their luggage to their place.

"For now on, we'll be under your care!" The brunette gave her a small smile and then bowed down. "Please take care of us!" Tomoyo looked at Syaoran quizzically while the people behind him began bowing.

"P – please take care of us!"

"Please take care of us."

The other male just glared at her. Syaoran scratched the back of his head.

"By some odd spiel, Kinomoto Sakki here, master of Sakki Puppet's Society – " He gestured towards the dazzling brunette, " – she had some how convinced me to let her stay at our place until she finds another office."

"What happened to her office?" Tomoyo asked, drawing her eyebrows together.

"Well, it's supposed to be burnt down."

"Supposed to be?"

"It hasn't burnt down yet, but Sakki here predicted that it'll be burnt down by the Black Dealer."

"So you're not only a Puppeteer but also a Prophet?" Tomoyo addressed Sakki politely with a bow.

"Of course not, I just simply made a conclusion after deducting the situation, and consequences. It appears I've betrayed him in his eyes, and now he'll probably want me dead. The simplest way is to burn my office down, but I suppose he could've sent an assassin after us also."

"A – assassin?" The shy female spoke up with her eyes widening fearfully.

"Don't worry, as long as the assassin knocks on Asa's door first, he'll surely get a beating for waking him up!"

"Anyways!" Syaoran interrupted and glanced at the group behind him. "We only have two guest rooms. Will you be sharing?"

"Hell no – "

Sakki cut in before Asa could go on. "That's perfect! Do you have an infirmary with a bed also?"

"We do…"

"Okay! I've divided the rooms up! Me and Hisoka will share a guest room, Asa, you get the other room, and Sho can sleep in the infirmary!"

"Excuse me?" This time Tomoyo spoke up. "It's rude to push someone to sleep in the infirmary, and not only that, the infirmary belongs to me, and only sick people are allowed to sleep in their so they can be monitored."

"Doesn't he look sick to you?" She gestured towards the male with maroon hair who smiled politely at her, his face a few shades too pale. "Every now and then, he'll randomly faint. I have no idea what's wrong with him, but if he does share a room with Asa, he'll probably only get more sick."

Tomoyo sighed and shook her head. "Syaoran…"

"I'm sure Meiling will be happy!" Syaoran exclaimed, trying to amend things.

"Well, why don't we think of it this way?" Sakki began slowly and her eyes seemed to shine with mischief. "Sakki Puppet's Society shall disband as of today, and all members will join Wolf's Society! There, now we're a part of the team."

A muddle of voices came together, all directed towards her, but Sakki casually stepped into the spacious lounge and began looking for her room.

"You did not just say that!"

"S – Sakki…!"

"Doesn't seem like a bad idea…"

"I didn't let you join yet!"

"Syaoran… you're a bit naïve aren't you?" Well, maybe except for one voice.

* * *

And she was right.

A ghost smile crept it way across her face as she stared at the scene before her. The red flames rose under the night sky, swallowing everything that stood in its way. Sakki sat on a bench across the street from the fire, casually throwing peanuts in the air and eating them. She had just arrived a minute ago, and it seemed as if they had already started the party. But it seemed as if she had arrived too late, and they had already left. Except they seemed to have discovered that no one was in the office and conveniently left a note out for her. Right on the bench she was sitting on. Written in ugly handwriting, it read:

_Fire is dead._

It was a statement that needed an answer, and she had known that particular answer long before he ever appeared in front of her, might as well write that message for her so she wouldn't pursue him. Not that she would pursue him from the beginning anyways. For an old man, his intelligence is the size of a goldfish. He just eventually forgets everything anyways.

Sakki sighed. It was getting cold. She got up and crumpled the note up in her hands, and then set it aflame with her magic. A blue flame wrapped itself around the dainty paper and it vanished in a mere second in her hand with the ashes softly blowing towards the ground. Under the light of the moon, Sakki smiled, her hands in her coat's pockets, and a wind blew past her. She walked away from the mass of dying flames with only the moon as the witness to her endless journey.

"Phyre shall live."

* * *

_As the story is told_

_I will follow my role_

_As the legend unfolds_

_I will follow my destiny_

_As fate plays her role_

_I will wonder to the unknown_

_And become the legend of an untold story_

_o_ from Air TV

* * *

**Junryou – **

Okay, so I thought I'd try to clear some things up in this chapter in a cryptic way. So now the fact that Sakki is Sakura has been brought up in the story, and also a vague reason to why she's keeping her identity hidden. And I thought I'd bring up the fact that Syaoran is searching for someone up too, since I don't want my readers that I'm cheating them out with that false summary. It's true! I kind of brought it up in the last chapter, but in a really, really, weird and random way. I might not have understood it too. I mean, Syaoran's having such a nightmare while he's still poisoned, but he wants to stay in it longer! Gosh, my characters are really insecure aren't they?

Anyways, I actually had this chapter typed up about a week ago but was too lazy to edit it until recently. So it's been lying in my flash drive while I agonize over the return of school, and when I did, gosh, I had to start managing my time again so I get enough hours of sleep. And hopefully finish more of my homework this year too…

So, I've explained what's wrong with Hisoka, if anyone's confused or curious. I decided to add in a little bit about the Puppeteer at the end too, in case some people aren't too sure. But I have to admit, this chapter didn't really turn out how I originally planned it. Initially, Sakki wasn't supposed to realize that her office was going to be burnt down. Then I kept writing and it turns out like this. But I like it this way too.

I don't think I'm going to be updating soon, although I'm already working through the next chapter, because I'm starting one of my many little plot points with chapter 3, so I just want to make sure everything makes sense and change stuff if I forget anything. I'll try to update as soon as possible though! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

5 281 words. Updated on September 14, 2008.


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